Expedition Express:
Case Studies 1 & 2: Truckee Yesterday and Truckee Today:
Our Fire and Ice expedition is in full swing. Through fieldwork the students have all been acquainted with downtown Truckee, and have looked at the historical buildings as well as the current businesses. The Truckee Jail Museum was a theatrical hit (ask about the missing miner!) and local expert Chelsea Waltershid lead us down Commercial Row sharing stories of Truckee’s past.

Project Based Learning- The second and third graders are in the final stages of publishing Truckee’s Top 10 for Under 10. They brainstormed, voted on, and wrote paragraphs about their favorite local activities and restaurants for families visiting the area. These professional quality brochures will be put in the Truckee Visitor’s Center for all to see (and use!). Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to send one home when ready.

Questions to Ask your child
What was the Truckee location you wrote about?
Did anyone ever escape from the Truckee jail?
Who is the author of the month?

Crew News:
Bookbag Activity Update – Book bags are up and running! Hopefully your child has found enjoyment reading about a particular topic. Just as a reminder, book bags are for both 2nd and 3rd graders which account for the various reading levels included within the bags. Sometimes books may seem easier, sometimes more challenging. If books are more challenging, we encourage you to read to your child.

Another addition to the book bags will be the activity portion. We’ve been carefully collecting supplies and some are still on their way. Included in each bag is a binder outlining a fun art project or creative activity, such as water colors, puppets, puzzles, etc. Please help keep the bags and supplies in good shape to be passed on to the next family. We hope your child finds enjoyment in these activities!

Please help your child to return their bags on Fridays. We are on a rotation system and rely on the families’ help informing us if something needs to be replaced or is missing. Feel free to shoot an email or put a quick note in the planner.

Communication – Just a friendly reminder to include both teachers in email correspondence. If we are both included it eases our flow of communication, and we are all in the know. Thank you in advance.

Yellow Folder – These go home from Monday and returned on Friday. Unless there is a form to be turned ASAP, please remind your child to turn in all of their folder items no earlier than Friday. They are welcome to keep their folder in their cubbies. Turning in our papers at the same time ensures nothing gets lost.

Shared Reading Folders – By now you should have seen your child’s red shared reading folder. These folders will come home every other week in the green book bags and are considered homework. The shared reading that you see are poems that have been discussed and read several times in class. The purpose of these folders is for your child to practice fluency. On the back of each poem is a place for you, or whomever your child chooses to read with (pets included), to sign as an indication that the poem was read aloud. On the Friday shared reading folders are returned, we will invite some of the students to share their poem of choice with the crew.

Just Right Books – As children enter 2nd grade they are often still learning to read, and learning to select good fit books. As these students transition to 3rd grade, they also transition from learning to read, to reading to learn. Every child differs in their comfort level of selecting good fit books, but this is a very important focus in our 2/3 crew and supports students in the goal of reading to learn. While we discuss strategies to help students independently determine if a book is a good fit or not in class, we also encourage you to support your child in the following ways: Does your child show interest in the book? Does he or she understand the story, and are they able to accurately retell what has been read? Can he or she read the story independently, or with minimal support? Finally, can your child recognize most of the words (ask your child about the “5 Finger Rule”)?

Parent Pipelines – To accompany our weekly comprehension/accuracy/fluency/ or vocabulary focus in class, you will find “Parent Pipelines” in the weekly yellow folders. These pipelines are user friendly tools for parents in order to support children at home with the strategy currently taught in class. We ask that you keep these pipelines as they are a great reminder in how to support your child when comprehension breaks down (or you just want to be sure they do understand what is read), words are innacurate, etc.

Homework Clarification – We give a light load of homework in the MinBorg Crew. Our homework consists of: Reading books in the book bags, practicing Parent Pipelines (reading strategies) at home, some math, and shared reading folders. Occasionally we will give no homework (aside from nightly reading from a good fit book) if it is an unusual week.

Independent Study – We have new links up on our crew webpage for independent study! If your child is sick, please go to the /https://truckeecharterschool.org/ and print, complete one page for reading, writing and math. If you’d like us to print them and send home we’re happy to do that. Reach out with any questions.

Book Orders – Scholastic book orders will be sent home once a month, and ordering is optional, of course. If you choose to order books for your child we ask that you submit your order online. Online ordering eases and expedites the process, plus we then get a free book for the class!

Class Dojo – We’ve noticed many of you have logged on to the Class Dojo website/app. It’s main purpose is to track the students’ Habits of Work (HOWs). We look forward to trying this new system for our crew!

Conferences – Conference sign ups are posted! Please only sign up next to a 1 or 2, X’s indicate days/times not available. If unable to make a date or time work email us and we will do our best to accommodate you. We look forward to meeting with you and your child to discuss goals, not only for your child, but also for you as the parent!

Booster Seats – If your child is 7 years old, please be sure to bring (or arrange if your child rides the bus) a booster. Last week we were in a scramble since a few other crews also had fieldwork and borrowed the SELS extra booster seats. Although we always try to make it work, your child may not be able to join us if they can not be safely (and lawfully) transported. We’d hate to have anyone miss out!

Crew Highlights:
We’d like to highlight our 3rd grade “Peacekeeper” of the week, Annika! Annika enjoys skiing and time with family. She plays soccer and likes to read in her free time. One thing that makes Annika unique is her creativity and positive spirit!

Thank you to the following patents who volunteered on our past fieldwork to downtown Truckee: Kirsten Parkark, Kat Newell, John Killan, Liza Killan, Cassie Hebel, Mike Preseau, Maria Snideman, Luz Huerta, Michelle Blackburn, Lori Franssen, and Sara Spurlock. Looking forward to more fieldwork soon!

Important Dates:
Thursday, Oct. 13/Friday, Oct. 14- Adventure Campout-Boca Springs
Info. packet coming soon!